Illinois politicians voiced their skepticism of the NFL Chicago Bears’ proposed stadium that would need $2.3 billion in public funds, with Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) saying there are higher “priorities” for taxpayers.
Progressive Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) stood by Bears CEO and President Kevin Warren for the franchise’s debut of the nearly $5 billion stadium plan Wednesday.
Chicago Bears President Kevin Warren, joined by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, left, speaks during a news conference where NFL football team unveiled a nearly $5 billion proposal Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Chicago, for an enclosed stadium next door to their current home at Soldier Field. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
“The stadium itself would cost $3.2 billion to build, with another $1.4 billion in proposed infrastructure improvements,” the Chicago Tribune reported.
While the Bears reportedly will pledge $2.3 billion, the franchise’s plan requires another $2.3 billion in public financing, as well as the refinancing of outstanding debt for previous publicly funded stadiums for the Bears and White Sox.
Taxpayers would be paying for the infrastructure improvements on top of about $1 billion in “new borrowing” to finance the stadium, the outlet reported.
While Johnson vowed that taxes would not be raised to cover the costs, other members of his own party spoke out against the proposal.
“I remain skeptical about this proposal and I wonder whether it’s a good deal for the taxpayers,” Pritzker said at a separate event on Wednesday, according to WTVO. “It’s early on. I have not heard the announcement today. But it’s very important to me that with all that the state needs to accomplish, that we think about what the priorities are of the state.”
“There are a lot of priorities that the state has, and I’m not sure that is among the highest priorities for taxpayers,” the governor added.
J.B. Pritzker, governor of Illinois, speaks during an interview in Chicago, Illinois, on February 23, 2023. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
State Senate President Don Harmon (D) echoed Pritzker’s sentiment.
“At first glance, more than $2 billion in private funding is better than zero and a more credible opening offer. But there’s an obvious substantial gap remaining, and I echo the governor’s skepticism,” he said, according to the Tribune.
“There’s next to no appetite to fund a new stadium with taxpayer dollars,” Harmon noted.
State House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch (D) added his prediction that the proposal will get voted down in the legislature.
Joe Ferguson, president of fiscal watchdog group Civic Federation, told the local paper that the plan doesn’t seem viable considering the amount of debt the franchise still carries from past projects.
“There’s not a lot of information necessary to say one of these (plans) actually is viable, or whether it’s a way to take us to the cleaners when we’re already carrying hundreds of millions of dollars of debt for the last time we did something like this,” Ferguson stated. “I think Gov. Pritzker has spoken to this exactly right, with a real wariness about public funding of sports stadiums. We need to see reliable, thorough revenue projections for this before we can even open the conversation.”
Sports economist J.C. Bradbury told the Bears to “pay for their own damn stadium.”
“The Bears aren’t going to leave one of the most iconic football markets in the country. Tell the Bears to pay for their own damn stadium, and if they don’t like it, to go jump in Lake Michigan,” he said.
